Disabled

The other day as I was driving to work the vehicle in front of me caught my eye. It wasn’t because it was stylish, though it was, or because it was maneuvering like batman on the way to a crime scene, as it was… it was because it had a disabled person license plate and a ski rack on the top. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t those two items seem to be mutually exclusive? As I cocked my eyes to the side gesturing my puzzlement, my imagination took over and I wondered if I was in the presence of the world’s greatest handicapped skier? Or possibly this disabled person had felt a social burden to assist struggling snow bums with rides to the mountains? Or could it be that a disabled mom took enormous pleasure in driving her brood to the snow to vicariously watch her family have great fun skiing? And then in midstream of my ever flowing sarcasm I came to a screeching halt and realized what was in front of me was the gospel!

The good news had opened my eyes to see that I was the disabled one because I didn’t have the full story. The Pharisees couldn’t understand why Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:11), so Jesus chides them because they ignorantly assumed he was a glutton and a drunkard who chose his company poorly (Luke 7:34). The kingdom of God was not the one-sided law keeping exclusive club they had perpetrated but rather a rebirth and spiritually transformed community that enabled the disabled to see beyond the external. The gospel is “good news” because it speaks of reconciliation, forgiveness, grace, mercy and understanding. The gospel never looks to the story as one-dimensional but coaxes one to look deeper, to dig deeper and to expect deeper meaning to the story to which we can never be outsiders. The gospel is not exclusive but inclusive for the single purpose to draw all men unto God.

I’ll never know the full story of my disabled ski rack toting friend but I thank them for reminding me not to disable my vision by jumping to conclusions. And I am thankful that the gospel is good news the enables the disabled… especially me! May God bless us all with eyes that see beyond the moment and measure all things by heaven’s intrusion into our myopic world! -DAN